


Speedrun

by aireyv



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: M/M, casually obliterating the fourth wall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 11:59:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10099613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aireyv/pseuds/aireyv
Summary: Anything can happen in a cutscene you skip.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PsychoHayseed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoHayseed/gifts).
  * Inspired by [LiquidMantis Fanfiction Request](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9462035) by [PsychoHayseed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoHayseed/pseuds/PsychoHayseed). 



> Following up on my dumb comment. I _may_ yet write something more serious that fulfills the prompt more directly, but no promises!

Liquid vomited up blood and keeled over, apparently dead. Snake and Meryl stared at him for a few moments from underneath the upturned car.

“If he’s dead,” Snake said, “that means…”

“Don’t say it, Snake,” said Meryl.

Snake and Meryl got themselves out from under the car and left, riding off on a snowmobile into the sunrise. A bit later a helicopter came to pick up the scientist who had been left behind, and Liquid remained exactly where he had collapsed, next to a puddle of his blood, his skin freezing cold but his core body temperature… not quite as cooled as it should have been for a dead man.

Mantis walked out of the nuclear warhead storage building and to Liquid’s side, and gently shook him awake.

“………”

“Eli?”

Liquid cracked open his eyes, more confused than anything else. “What…?” Gradually, his blurry sight focused on the vision in front of him: his partner/best friend/other half/soulmate, whom he had thought for sure was dead. “Wh-what?! Mantis?!” He sat up quickly, and was immediately overtaken by dizziness. “Ugh… Mantis…?”

“Lie back down,” Mantis said, pushing on his shoulders, “I had to remove a lot of your blood in order to get the FOXDIE out of your system.” He glanced at the blood on the snow next to him. “By the way, don’t touch that.”

“Er… right…” Liquid stared up at the sky, resting his arm on his forehead. Now that he thought about it, yeah, he definitely did feel like he had lost a lot of blood - although granted he’d lost a lot of blood even before he blacked out. Also, he was cold.

“Oh, of course,” Mantis said, and Liquid briefly stiffened before relaxing as Mantis lifted him up with his psychic powers, still keeping him mostly horizontal. “We should get back inside. Especially before Ocelot comes skulking around…”

“What… is Ocelot doing skulking around?” Liquid asked as Mantis started walking him back into the maintenance base.

“The ArmsTech president didn’t die when he was supposed to, so he’s taking care of that — nevermind, Eli, I’ll explain the plot later. You’re more interested in knowing why I am still alive.”

“ _Obviously_.”

Mantis sighed. “The duct glitch.”

“…the duct glitch?”

“Snake clipped out of bounds just before he was supposed to encounter Meryl, and ended up in the loading zone for a cutscene mid-torture sequence. In other words, he skipped half the game, including my boss fight.” He paused, then added, “Octopus is still alive, too, but he left already. I stayed to see if I couldn’t prevent your death.”

“Well… I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

Mantis set him down in an office and started looking through the cabinets in there for a blanket or something. “You are. And you are going to stay that way. Although be warned that Ocelot is going to steal your identity sometime in the next two years…”

“How do you know all this?”

“We’re on the Legacy Collection, meaning I could read the PlayStation 3’s memory and see what happens in MGS2 and MGS4. Admittedly,” he said, “I am supposed to have a direct appearance towards the end of MGS4… but no matter. I was completely cut out of the Project Itoh novelization, you know.”

“And how do you know that?” Liquid said, “the Legacy Collection doesn’t come bundled with a .pdf of the novelization.” He frowned. “Would reading a .pdf of a novel even be feasible on a PS3?”

“I wouldn’t attempt it, personally. And that one was just Google.”

“Oh.”

Mantis found a blanket and tucked it around Liquid’s shoulders.

“…I really thought you were dead.”

“I know. I was supposed to be.”

Honestly, Liquid felt like crying. Mantis’ exasperated look kept his tears in check, though. “I- I thought… I…” Liquid tried, “Mantis…”

Mantis stroked his cheek with the back of one finger. “Shh. It’s alright. We are _both_ alive where we should not be; I say we don’t waste this opportunity.”

“Of course.” Liquid was thinking about going after Snake as soon as he recovered his strength.

“I said let’s not waste this opportunity,” Mantis said, irritated, “you realize, of course, that if you come into any kind of contact with Snake again, there is a very real chance that you’ll be re-infected with FOXDIE, and I won’t be able to intervene?”

“But—”

“No. I am tired, Eli. I’m tired of fighting and I’m tired of fearing I am going to lose you.”

Liquid was silent for a long time.

Then he closed his eyes and sighed. “Fine, fine… whatever you want, Mantis. Just- don’t die on me again.”

He felt Mantis’ hand softly pet his hair.

“Naturally.”


End file.
